Indian authorities are stepping up security for political leaders, fearing possible militant attacks as a general election approaches, home ministry officials and police said on Thursday. Intelligence agencies have warned that ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul Gandhi and the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani, could be targets, they said. The country remains tense after militants killed 166 people in a strike on the financial hub of Mumbai last November. India has blamed that attack on Pakistan-based militant groups. “The home minister has warned all political parties to be on the alert during their campaigns,” Onkar Kedia, a home ministry official, told Reuters. The warning came as CIA Director Leon Panetta, in his first overseas trip since taking office, met Thursday with India's home minister to discuss intelligence sharing and security in the wake of recent unrest in neighboring Pakistan and last year's deadly Mumbai attacks, officials said. Panetta's visit comes two weeks after FBI Director Robert Mueller came to India, where the FBI is believed to be helping investigate the November siege in Mumbai that killed 164 people, including several Americans. The intelligence chief, who was expected to visit Islamabad after New Delhi, met with Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, said Pankaj Kumar Mishra, an official with the Home Ministry. Panetta is also expected to meet with Indian intelligence officials and the National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan. The US Embassy released no details about Panetta's trip. More than two million security personnel will be deployed in the world's largest democratic exercise from April 16 to May 13, for which 714 million people are eligible to vote. Authorities said they were securing all buildings near rally sites and will have commandoes and sniffer dogs when high-profile leaders address large gatherings. The main battle will be between the Congress Party-led coalition, known as the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “Security will be very, very tight as we approach elections. We are wary of possible strikes,” Rajan Bhagat, a Delhi Police official said on Thursday. “We are working on that now.” Some 400 people have been killed in about a dozen militant strikes over the last year.
